Reality TV Binge Leads to Higher Casualty Rate Finally, some good news. As broadcasters increasingly binge on unscripted shows starring ordinary folks willing to do almost anything for cash, romance or 15 minutes of fame, the burgeoning genre of reality TV appears to be wearing a bit thin with U.S. audiences. At the very least, networks are seeing that the… Read more →
Author: Mr. McLaren
When does the new Enlightenment start?
More on the evolution issues we’ve been following. (I.e. America sinks into the Dark Arges.) Boston.com has an article outlining all the various evolution battles going on right now. More frightening than the idea that there are still people who think science is a matter of opinion, or is irrelevant in the face of faith, is the sheer number of… Read more →
ABC News: School Talent Show Draws Secret Service
What’s more scary about this story: that the Secret Service came to bust kids for singing a Dylan song, or that some other kids at that school actually called the song in as a threat? Christ, imagine they had been covering Costello’s “Tramp The Dirt Down”. ABC News: School Talent Show Draws Secret Service Read more →
Still at hotel
My neighbourhood, and a good 10km radius around it still has no power. I feel a really empassioned rant about the stupidity of running essential services as private industry coming on. Outrage builds Read more →
Just Ordered
Fans of Mazola Pony, Marigold, and Plasticine take note. I have just ordered Rob Szabo‘s new double EP “Late Bloomer”/”Sore Loser”. (There are downloadable MP3s of two tracks at Rob’s homepage). I have previously ordered Steve Strongman‘s latest CD from the same site, and had great service. I’ll let you know about Rob’s disc when it gets here. Read more →
Growlin’ wolf
You know, I’m a reader. A very serious reader. Like a “more on books than mortgage” kind of reader. But my list of Living People I Really Want To Hang Out With For A Weekend doesn’t have an author at the top of it. The top of that list is something entirely different. Read more →
Bible stickers
Following up our earlier post on the evolution textbook sticker battle. I read with much amusement this post on BoingBoing about the controversy. And since it amused me so, I made up a Word document containing labels with Gary’s text, preformatted for Avery 8161 labels. For those of you without Word, I used the FastPDF service to convert the Word… Read more →
Iraq
I shouldn’t need to comment on Fallujah in general, the prisoner shootings in particular, or the unlikeliness that capturing the city really accomplished anything. The pointlessness is self-evident in the one case, and the other is the obvious result of giving guns to young men, scaring the piss out of them, and demonizing an entire culture. The bigger picture, on… Read more →
AG Catch-up Post
Well, I’m still trapped in a hotel, with no sign of power to return at home any time soon, so I might as well catch up on the news I’ve missed over the last couple of days. Let’s start with the nomination of Alberto Gonzales to the post of Attorney General. My initial reaction is still “Even Torture-is-OK Guy is… Read more →
Trapped In A Hotel
I know part of the reason I moved to Nova Scotia was to enjoy the beauty of nature. I know this includes, and consciously included, some majestically crushing weather. However, this is the third time in 13 months that a major weather surprise has taken out the power at my house. Last time it was 7 days before they got… Read more →
US Currency, Iraq, etc.
So, as we covered earlier, the US dollar is hitting record lows against both the Canadian dollar and the Euro. There are lots of predictions out there that these are the early signs of a continuing decline, driven by the crazy deficits of the current administration. However, what if it’s not just deficits? Traditionally the US dollar has been strong… Read more →
And The People Rejoice
Ashcroft Resigns (AP) Attorney General John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Don Evans resigned Tuesday, the first members of President Bush’s Cabinet to leave as he headed from re-election into his second term. Ashcroft, in a five-page, handwritten letter to Bush, said, “The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved.” So I know these… Read more →
Judge Halts War-Crime Trial at Guantanamo
Judge Halts War-Crime Trial at Guantanamo So there are hopeful bits in there like this: The judge also said that in asserting that the Guantánamo prisoners are unlawful combatants and outside the reach of the Geneva Conventions, “the government has asserted a position starkly different from the positions and behavior of the United States in previous conflicts, one that can… Read more →
I could not make this up.
Higly trained assassin? Peanut butter smuggler? Bizarro version of Burke? Look, I can’t really explain this story. Let me just quote three paragraphs for you, and then you decide whether or not you need to follow the link. Interpol recruited Bannon at age 19 while he was serving time in a Korean prison for smuggling peanut butter and Jack Daniels.… Read more →
Are we still fighting about this?
Evolution textbooks row goes to court OK, seriously, this debate was a joke to civilized people in the 1920s. What the hell is it in the year 2004? And for a little extra scare think about this paragraph in light of the election results: In 1987, the supreme court ruled that creationism was a religious belief that could not be… Read more →
